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Opposition to Vancouver Olympics Games Is Alive!

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Opposition to Vancouver Olympics Games Is Alive! TO ALL INTERNATIONAL NEWS EDITORS OPPOSITION TO VANCOUVER OLYMPICS GAMES IS ALIVE! About the Olympic Resistance Network (Website: http://olympicresistance.net) The 2010 Winter Olympics will take place in Vancouver & Whistler, on unceded Indigenous land, from February 12-28 2010. Over the past seven years, there has been a groundswell of opposition to the Games. Given the range of social injustices perpetrated by the Games, the anti-Olympics movement has created an opportunity for a diversity of groups, individuals, and communities to join forces. Due to a growing and vibrant movement to oppose the Olympic Games, VANOC and government officials are no longer able to host large public Olympic events in Vancouver without being shamed. During the Olympic Torch relay, protesters in over thirty cities, towns, and Indigenous communities successfully disrupted the Torch Relay, forcing delays and route cancellations, with at least thirteen arrests. The Olympic Resistance Network (ORN) is coordinating many of the anti-Olympics activities. Our organizing, as native and non-natives alike, is being done under the slogan of "No Olympics on Stolen Native Land", acting in solidarity with other communities across the province – particularly Indigenous communities who have been defending their land even before the onslaught of the Olympics. The ORN supports the international resolution passed by over 1500 Indigenous delegates at the Intercontinental Indigenous Peoples Gathering in Sonora, Mexico to “boycott the 2010 Olympic Games” based on Resolution #2 of the Gathering which states “We reject the 2010 Winter Olympics on sacred and stolen territory of Turtle Island–Vancouver, Canada”. The ORN is working towards a global anti-capitalist and anti-colonial convergence against the Games from February 10th-15th 2010. What are some of the facts to back up your claims about the impacts of the Games? - Theft of unceded Indigenous lands, particularly for sport tourism and resource extraction . There are over $5 billion worth of resort plans since the Olympic bid, despite significant grassroots Indigenous opposition; for example around Kamloops and Mount Currie. At the Sun Peaks Resort alone, there have been over 50 arrests of Indigenous people who have been opposing the $295 million expansion of the resort. Indigenous land has also been appropriated for the creation of transportation infrastructure such as bridges, port facilities, and highways. Since the Olympic bid the BC government has expedited the application process within the construction, mining, logging, forestry, oil/gas and resort sectors, thus opening up unceded Indigenous territories for sale to corporations, akin to the “gold rush.” - Increasing homelessness and gentrification of poor neighbourhoods, especially Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (DTES). It is projected that the number of homeless in Vancouver will triple from 1000 homeless people since the Olympic bid in 2003 to over 3200 people by 2010. Over 1200 low income housing units have been lost in the DTES since the Olympic bid in 2003. Meanwhile, real estate speculation and gentrification has led to a projected 1500 new market housing units, primarily condominiums, being built in the DTES. According to a report by the Geneva-based Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions, the Olympic Games have displaced more than two million people around the world over the last 20 years, not including the estimated additional 1 million displaced in Beijing. - Unprecedented destruction of the environment . This includes: massive deforestation in the Callaghan Valley to build the Whistler Olympic Center; clear cuts of Cypress Mountain, which is a designated 2010 venue location; massive sand and gravel mining operations to build construction materials; and the destruction of Eagleridge Bluffs due to the Sea-to-Sky Highway construction. In 2007, 71-year old Pacheedaht elder Harriet Nahanee and 78-year old environmentalist Betty Krawcyzk were two of the arrestees at a blockade opposing construction at Eagleridge Bluffs. Harriet Nahanee contracted pneumonia at the Surrey Pre-Trial Center. She died a few days later, while hospitalized, on Feb. 24, 2007. - More privatization of public services and ballooning public debt . The total cost for 2010 and related construction will be close to $7 billion, with Olympic venues alone costing over $4.5 billion. For example, taxpayers are on the hook for $875 million for the 2010 Olympic Athletes Village’s construction costs alone, while costs for the Vancouver Trade and Convention Centre have skyrocketed to almost $900 million. - Union busting through imposed contracts and vulnerable working conditions for migrant labour . There are an estimated 3,000-5,000 temporary migrant and undocumented workers in the Olympics-fuelled and speculation-driven construction industry that are prone to hyper-exploitation and are vulnerable given their lack of full legal status. - Increased funding (up to $1 billion) for the police, military, and border agents in the name of “national security.” Sociologist David Lyon has dubbed Vancouver 2010 "the Surveillance Games," since security operations will include over 13,000 RCMP, military & other security personnel as well as joint US-Canada military & North American Aerospace Defence Command operations. - Criminalization of the poor . Plans to “cleanse” the city’s core of the poor include increased funding for private security initiatives such as the Downtown Ambassadors; banning dumpsters from the downtown core; an aggressive ticketing campaign for petty by-law infractions; and more. - Corporate profiteering : While making billions, the corporate sponsors of the Olympic Games also have some of the worst environmental and social practices on record. For example: Petro-Canada is one of the most environmentally destructive oil and gas companies; Royal Bank of Canada is the top financier of the environmentally devastating Alberta Tar Sands; General Electric is one of the world’s top three producers of military aircraft engines; Dow Chemical is the world’s second largest chemical manufacturer and cause of the Bhopal gas disaster in India; Coca Cola has been responsible for toxic waste pollution and massive depletion of ground water; and McDonalds is one of the largest junk food restaurants and known for its exploitation of workers. - Repression of dissent : Anti-Olympic activists are already being subjected to heavy surveillance and repression, and countless people have been intimidated and harassed by CSIS and VISU (Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit). A May 2008 CSIS Threat Assessment document notes that “opposition to the 2010 Olympic Games is most noticeable amongst the more extreme elements of First Nations communities in conjunction with groups like No One is Illegal, the Anti-Poverty Committee, and the Downtown Eastside Residents Association.” SCHEDULE - Mon Feb 8, 2010 onwards: Rhizome Cafe, 317 East Broadway. Bring in your own contributions and artwork for “Bringing the World together--In Collaboration, not Competition.” - Wed Feb 10- Thurs Feb 11: Olympic Resistance Summit from noon until 10 pm. Wise Hall (1882 Adanac St) and nearby Centre for Socialist Education (706 Clark Dr). - Thursday, Feb. 11 between 6-7pm. Protest the Torch relay at UBC. Meet at the Old Bus Loop (corner of University Boulevard and East Mall near the Student Union Building). - Fri Feb 12: Resist the Torch! Resist the Games! Meet at Victory Square (Cambie and Hastings) at 8:30 am or Grandview Park (Commercial Drive) at 9 am. Let's show VANOC and their Coca-Cola corporate spectacle what community looks like. Celebrate our strength, creativity, and diversity. - Fri Feb 12: Take Back Our City! “Welcome” the 2010 Olympic Torch. Beginning with a festival at the Vancouver Art Gallery at 3 pm, followed by a parade and protest to BC Place Stadium. - Friday, Feb 12, 2010 at 8:00pm, Legion Hall, 2205 Commerical Drive. We do not like the Olympics Celebration Party! Cost: $3 - ($1297 cheaper than a ticket to the opening ceremonies). - Fri Feb 12: Resistance Media Lounge at Rhizome Café, 317 East Broadway at 8 pm. Join Vancouver Media Co-op for a mash up of protest footage and images from the anti-Olympics convergence. - Sat Feb 13. 2010 Heart Attack: Street March to Clog the Arteries of Capitalism. Arrive at 8:30 am in Thornton Park (Main and Terminal). - Sat Feb 13, 8 pm at Rhizome (317 E. Broadway). Anne Feeney in Concert: 5 Ring Circus Special. - Sun Feb 14th, we will be standing with the 19th Annual Women's Memorial March to honour all the missing and murdered and women in the DTES. Memorial march begins at 1 pm at Main and Hastings. Note this is not an anti-Olympic protest, no banners, placards, or face masks please. - Sunday Feb 14. People's Prom at 805 East Pender. Doors at 8 pm. The most kick ass antidote to Valentine’s Day. All proceeds to to grassroots, direct action and creative resistance to the Games. - Mon Feb 15 (ONGOING): Noon at Pigeon Park. Rally for Homes: No More Empty Talk, No More Empty Lots. Support the grassroots, autonomous Olympic Tent Village going up. Organized and led by Downtown Eastside residents and groups. - Mon Feb 15: Vancouver Art Gallery, Gathering at 6:00pm. Anti-war demonstration. - Friday, Feb 19, 7:00pm at Rhizome Cafe (317 East Broadway). Board Games, not Olympic Games! - Saturday, Feb 20. Rally for a National Housing Program from noon-2 pm, Vancouver Art Gallery. - Sat Feb 20: Anti-OH-LIMP-IC show at Rickshaw Theater, 254 East Hastings Street. Door at 8 pm. D.O.A. will headline
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